Hi Ryan,
We just got back on Sunday from 14 nights on Seascape, you gave me some good info before we went. I'm going to do a separate review at some point.
We had an amazing time and for us couldn't fault the cruise one bit, having sailed RC before I can understand why MSC isn't for everyone.
I don't mean to stereotype but I would suspect a lot of the bad reviews come form a certain demographic of American cruisers. It was a very busy loud cruise so wouldn't be for everyone, but you could easily avoid the crowds, the portions in the MDR where adequate, I would say on the smaller side but we never left hungry (and you could certainly go to the buffet if you wanted more). The service was fine but again I can understand why it wouldn't be up to to scratch for some, we have holidayed a few times in Orlando and the service you receive in restaurants etc is always on another level compared to the UK and Europe, they are very service orientated in the US.